


This Will End Up On The News

by z1b



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Boarding School, M/M, POV Multiple, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 02:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2675633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/z1b/pseuds/z1b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At Hollow Bastion Academy, students can specialize in one of three majors: Alchemy, Runes, or Channeling. They've already started off the school year, but a new student could shake everything up--the infamous Anti Oblivion. </p><p>TLDR; Roxas just wants to finish his schooling in peace, Axel wants his attention, Denzel wants Ventus, Ventus wants Anti, Leon just wants Cloud, and no one knows what Cloud wants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Will End Up On The News

**Author's Note:**

> Lately I've really been obsessed with old-fashioned ensemble fics, and since I can't seem to find any new ones I really enjoy, I've decided to write my own. So with a ton of characters, we shall begin! Be forewarned, this fic is third-person but the POV moves around from a few different characters. Roxas was originally the main. We'll see if he stays that way? Yeah...

"Did you hear Vanitas' little brother is attending this year?" Namine asked, sitting down at the table. She set her stack of books to the side of her plate and smiled at Roxas in greeting, who was on the opposite side of the table. "I hear he's an alchemic genius. He's going to show us all up when he gets here." 

Roxas rolled his eyes. "I just hope the guy's less of a pain than his brother is," he complained. His eyes were dull and watering from the light of the banquet hall. His leg was jittering under the table incessantly. "He was supposedly studying in the Arctic up until now. Under a master. Why would he skip out on personal training to attend a school? Doesn't make much sense. The guy must be a real moron." 

"His master died," Aurora put in, leaning over. She was seated beside Roxas, though eyeing him slightly warily given his apparent condition. Her voice was quieter than usual due to that, but that was still considered too loud for his half-awake ears. "I mean, it was Master Xehanort, right? He died, last month. They're erecting a memorial statue in my hometown, I read about it in the paper during break," She offered. 

"Yeah, well, the guy probably killed the master after learning his ways. Honestly, Vanitas is evil and I'd bet my left ass cheek that his brother is just the same." 

"Thank you, for that image," Aurora said with a frown. But Roxas wasn't done. 

"What also sucks is that he's an alchemic major. I didn't want to have to put up with any of the Oblivions if I could avoid it. Seriously, the Oblivions can fuck right off. And their friends can too." he said with a glare at the plate of food in front of him. He hadn't touched any of it, though there were a few things there he'd chosen in case he changed his mind. 

"You sound more angry than usual," Namine pointed out. 

"Also, you look like shit," Aurora pointed out, adressing Namine afterward, "I would have thought he'd be happier, after last night." 

"I didn't get any sleep, why would I be happy?" Roxas grouched. 

"Well, because you got laid," Aurora pointed out blankly. 

Roxas looked at her for a few seconds, waiting for her to laugh. He waited a few more for some sort of punchline. When none came, he closed his eyes again. "What." 

Aurora opened her mouth to respond, but seemed to catch interest somewhere over Roxas' shoulder and smiled widely. "Tink!" she cried instead. 

That was all the warning Roxas got before he was roughly shoved and another body was wrenching itself onto the bench beside him. He was practically shoved into Aurora as yet another blonde joined the table. 

His group of blonde friends would have amused him, if he were another sort of person. But he wasn't. And he really didn't understand why he was any of their friends in the first place--except maybe Namine. She was quiet. Roxas liked quiet. 

Tinkerbelle was decidedly not quiet. Her face was always animated in whatever emotion she was feeling and she almost never sat still. She was about as subtle as a hurricane, and as quiet as thunder overhead. The only mercy Roxas got was that she was, in fact, not an alchemic major, so she didn't share their dorms. Although her best friend, Aurora, did. Which meant Tink was over all the time anyway.

"What were you guys talking about?" Tinkerbelle asked, pulling Roxas' plate of food in front of herself. She bit off a piece of sausage, holding it in her hand instead of grabbing a fork. "Let me guess--it's about Roxas' crazy sex night, isn't it? Start over, I need to hear it from the beginning." She waved her free hand excitedly. 

"I have no idea what you guys are talking about," Roxas told them, looking between Aurora and Tink. He glanced at Namine but she wouldn't make eye contact. Tinkerbelle was looking upset by his reaction, which was never a good thing. 

"Roxas-Soon-To-Be-Flurry!" she cried, putting a hand over her heart. "How dare you lose your V-card to the hottest piece of ass in Channeling history, and then deny your best friends the details!" 

"I think Vanitas is hotter than Axel," Aurora intoned. 

Tink nodded at her. "Hence why I specified Channeling. Van would win if we were counting all majors." 

"Axel wasn't over last night," Roxas interrupted the two. "Sorry to disappoint."

"Then what was all the yelling for?" Aurora questioned. "That was his voice. And you were being loud too." 

"Yeah like swearing and shit. Did it just go really badly? Is that why you don't want to talk about it?" Tinkerbelle pushed. 

"Ope, speaking of the handsome devil, your lover is heading this way," Aurora said, hitting Roxas' arm. 

The blonde boy sighed in a put-upon way, looking over his shoulder to see if Aurora was fucking with him or if Axel really was on his way over. Of course, the latter was true, and bright green eyes paired with a face-splitting grin were approaching the table. 

"Anyone who kills me in the next three seconds is entitled to the notes Cloud gave me for this year's Advanced Alternative Alchemics," Roxas offered, his voice flat and dead serious. 

It earned a couple laughs and a giggle, but there were evidently no takers. He was still alive three seconds later, when Axel arrived at their table and looked down at him. 

"Morning Blondie!" The redhead said animatedly. 

Roxas stared up at him with all the energy of a steamed leaf of lettuce. He did not respond, in a pointed way that was response in itself. His mouth was a hard, unimpressed line. 

"You may not have been informed," Axel went on with a wide grin. "But it's my birthday today. And there's a party tonight, which you are invited to." 

"Oh, is that so?" Roxas asked, his voice hard and humorless, matching his expression. "I hadn't been aware. If only someone had taken initiative and covered the interior of my clock with runic coding, so it would inform me of the event. Every hour, on the hour, all night. Maybe then I would have known." 

Axel's grin was damn near splitting his face, and the blonde's glare could melt metal. 

Before Roxas had a chance to open his mouth again, Namine cut in to try to save the situation. "Where is the party?"

"Where else? The lower feild," Axel responded with a sly grin. "As usual we're going to make full use of illusion and noise cancelling runes to keep it secret." He was in a good mood when he nudged Roxas' arm. "See you tonight, Rox." 

He left in a smooth stride and Roxas watched him go, before turning his unimpressed glare over to his friends. They had betrayed him, assuming he'd slept with Axel Flurry. If they felt guilty, however, they didn't show it. Because all three girls were laughing at him. 

"Shut up," he told them, though they did not. At all. 

"Oh, that's too rich," Tink said, feigning wiping a tear from her eye. "Here we thought you'd finally gotten laid, when really you spent the night swearing at your alarm clock blaring Axel's voice, inviting you to the party." She laughed again, heartilly. "Seriously, it's just so good. It's even better than a night of crazy sex." 

"Don't say that so loudly," Roxas snapped, glancing around. "Someone might hear you." 

"Please," Aurora said with a wave of her hand. "Literally everyone heard about you two last night. It was major talk this morning. You might have known that, if you'd have shown up for breakfast on time. And honestly, in everyone's defence, you do look like you were up all night doing the nasty. You didn't even fix your hair." 

"I went into the bathroom but Cloud was staring at me weirdly. So I left it," Roxas said. He ran a hand over his face. "Guess I know why that was." 

"He was probably jealous," Tinkerbelle intonted sagely. "He hasn't dated a single person the whole time he's been here. And he's graduating next year. That's like seven whole years of repression. And I don't think Ventus is getting any either, so you'd be the first of the Strifes to get it in." 

"Don't ever talk about my brother's sex lives," Roxas said, putting a hand over his eyes. "Especially not at the table." 

"Why?" Aurora took over, nudging him. "You're not eating anyway. And besides, we weren't talking about their sex lives. If we'd wanted to do that, we'd have sat here in silence." 

Tinkerbelle was laughing and so was Namine, though Roxas had had enough. He sighed and stood, tucking his hands into his pockets. "I'm going to bed," he announced, turning on his heel and heading for the domed entrance to the eating hall. He didn't bid the others a proper farewell, his shoulders sagging and his gate more of a shuffle. 

"Good idea!" Tinkerbelle called after him, cupping her hands around her small mouth, "Make sure you're nice and rested up for round two tonight!!" 

The ripple of laughter that went through the hall was mortifying, but Roxas was too tired to really appreciate how embarrassed he was supposed to be. The loud ruckus from the hall was not something he bothered to turn around for, and instead he just slipped out of the domed entrance at a slightly more hurried pace. 

He didn't really care enough to correct the student body on the fact that he hadn't slept with Axel the night previous. Not only because he didn't give a crap what they thought, but also because he knew he wouldn't be believed. He would however, correct his older brother Cloud the next chance he got. Because Cloud was one of very few opinions he cared about. 

That and Ventus, but his twin would know better than to believe the rumor anyway. So Roxas wasn't so worried about that. Even the Cloud conversation could wait until after his nap, which was going to be less of a nap and more of a day-long coma if everything went according to plan. 

When he got up to the shared dorm, he passed out on the nearest bed to the door, even though he knew it wasn't his. It wasn't as if the owner would be back to use it until that night, so he had plenty of time to borrow it for his own purposes. 

+++++++

"Your blonde looks like absolute hell today," Vanitas pointed out as Axel sat down beside him. The redhead had been grinning from the moment he'd walked into the banquet hall, but that was nothing unusual for him. Axel was usually a pretty pleased dude. Vanitas, for his part, was also grinning in his smug, sinister way. It was what they did. 

"You think he'll come tonight?" Axel asked, reaching out to load food onto his plate generously. Knowing how much energy the guy used throughout the day, there would be a second heaping plate of food after the first to satisfy his hunger. 

Vanitas had already eaten most of his own breakfast, and though there was still a bun on the side of his plate, he wasn't hungry anymore and didn't plan on finishing it off. Instead, he folded his hands and set his elbows on the table, regarding his friend. 

"I think if he doesn't, you'll go get him," Vanitas stated neutrally. He was pretty sure that Roxas would not attend the party voluntarily, but it was quite possible one of his friends or siblings would drag him there. There was hope. 

"True. That actually might be more fun than if he just showed up," Axel mused, pausing to consider before shaking his head. "Wouldn't mean as much, though." 

"You really ought to leave the poor kid alone," Megara drawled from the other side of the table. She was playing with her food. She'd never been a breakfast person, and though every morning she'd stack a couple heaps of something on her plate or fill a bowl with cereal, the rest of the mealtime she'd just stir it or poke at the lumps with forks. 

"Now, what fun would that be?" Vanitas asked with a grin that spread across his features. "Axel's been making some real progress." 

"Oh, is that what you two call it?" Meg asked, raising a brow. She was looking up at them from under her lashes--she had a certain way of looking like she was seducing everyone at all times. It was just how she looked, however. She'd punch anyone that tried to touch her too much. 

"Hey, don't knock it till you see," Axel scolded her between mouthfulls. "He's going to show up this time. I know it." 

Megara hummed in amusement, but didn't argue, going back to moving her eggs around the surface of her plate. 

"Hey Van, when were we picking up your brother?" Axel asked, looking over at his dark-haired friend. "I completely forgot. I have to go to town for more paint for the runes." 

"That's fine," Vanitas said with a wave of his hand. "I'll grab him myself." 

"And be back for the party?" 

"Obviously. If I'm the one writing code for it." 

"Good. Great. Also, is your brother better looking than Roxas, by chance?" 

"You're not touching my brother," Van deadpanned. 

"You're right," Axel said, waving his hand. "Of course he's not." 

"If he looks anything like Van," Meg put in from across the table with a grin, "He's probably much, much better looking than your little blonde squirt." 

"Take that back," Axel demanded. 

Meg grinned. 

"Take it back or you're not invited to the party," The redhead amended. 

"Yeah, you're not touching my brother either," Vanitas told Meg. He gestured between Axel and her as he got up. "Both of you. Forbidden." 

Meg rolled her eyes. "No one can resist forbidden," she pointed out. 

Vanitas frowned. "Fine. He's cursed then. You don't want him anyway." 

"Whoa, you serious?" Axel asked, making a face. 

"Heartless," Vanitas confirmed. "Also, I haven't talked to him in three years. Something else could be wrong with him by now, I wouldn't even doubt it. He just sent me a letter to pick him up, so I'm going to. I'm not claiming to know the guy." 

"And on that note of stunning brotherly love, I'm going to go check on my idiot of a brother. See if he's getting anywhere with that other blonde." Megara rolled her eyes as she got up, leaving her food on the table. "Honestly, what is it about the Strifes?"

"They're angels trapped in human bodies," Axel stated earnestly. 

Both Vanitas and Meg laughed, and the girl pushed her long hair over her shoulder. "Yeah, I don't think this year will hold any different for either of my favourite lovestruck fools," she mused, mostly to herself, before heading off. 

Axel made a face at her retreat, though Vanitas patted his shoulder. 

"There's still hope," his dark-haired friend insisted, before also leaving. 

Once Axel was alone at the table, and he spent the remainder of the breakfast hour cramming his face full of food, a feat that neither Meg nor Vanitas despaired over missing. 

+++++++

The first time Leon had met Cloud, it was in Introduction to Alchemy. It had been the first day of their first year at Hollow Bastion Academy, and they'd been paired together over what had later became Cloud's chosen major. He'd been leaning toward it even then; though Leon hadn't known that. In the beginning, Cloud didn't particularly show any natural talent for the subject. 

That had been apparent the first day. Cloud had forgotten instuctions, cut the herbs wrong... even gone so far as drawing the heating runes with the wrong colour paint. Their mixing pot had frozen over when it was supposed to be boiling, and both boys had panicked. The teacher had been approaching and Leon had wanted to cover up their mistake before she saw it, one because he didn't want to make a bad impression on his first day and also because the blonde he'd been paired with was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. 

So Leon had done something incredibly, miraculously stupid. Which he'd never been able to rationalize at any point after the fact. 

Footsteps had stopped beside him. A surprised noise was heard. Crystal blue eyes were locked on his, full of horror. 

Leon had reacted to those eyes, they were what made him act like an idiot. Cloud had looked at him with a scared expression and all thought had left Leon's mind--he'd immediately just did whatever he could to get that look out of those beautiful eyes. 

Which had somehow translated to turning around and punching their professor in the face. In the middle of broad daylight in a full class on the first day of school. 

She'd fallen in an unconscious heap before Leon even had a chance to think about his actions, and by then it was way too late. 

He was never allowed in that classroom again, and the only alchemic classes he took in general were A) Mandatory, and B) Ones not taught by Mrs. Tifa. 

That hadn't been the only time he'd fucked up around Cloud, but it had set the tone for all other times. No matter what seemed to happen, Leon always got it wrong. He'd look too deeply into Cloud's eyes and then do something stupid. All thought was lost under their gaze. 

It was all the eyes' fault. 

"If you'd rather meet tomorrow, that's fine," Cloud said, interrupting Leon's train of thought. 

The blonde was across from him and they were in the library. It was breakfast, and although Leon was starving, he had skipped breakfast because Cloud didn't eat breakfast. And Cloud had wanted to meet in the library 'if Leon wasn't opposed'. Leon, being Leon, was faced with blue eyes and no way to resist them. Which had landed him in the library at five AM with a stomach that was on the verge of growling any second after his arrival. He was hoping will alone would keep it silent. 

But he was fucking starving. 

"Uh, no. I'm good. What were you saying?" Leon asked, trying to look interested when it felt like his stomach was trying to digest itself. At the very least he should have grabbed something on his way to the library--anything, really, would have done. But he'd been in a hurry to get there as fast as he could, because: Cloud. 

The blonde stared at him a few more seconds, then sighed in the silent way he usually did, closing his eyes and flipping his book closed. 

"Nevermind," the blonde said before standing up. "We'll work on it another time. When you can focus." He picked up two of the other texts, tucking them against his chest. He looked tired and bored, but that was just how his face was. His face had always been that way; the key to his expressions were in his eyes. 

"I can focus," Leon assured, also standing up. The truth was he couldn't, honestly, but it wasn't even entirely his stomach's fault. It was his project partner's. He couldn't concentrate around Cloud, never could. 

Or, that was a false statement. He'd always been able to focus around Cloud. The problem was that when he was around Cloud, all he could focus on was Cloud. Which meant he'd trip over things or punch people or not respond to social cues or be caught staring or any number of embarrassing things. He was always making a fool of himself. 

"It's fine," Cloud assured. "I have alchemic equations to solve anyway," he said as he passed Leon to head toward the door. "Let me know when works for you, to discuss our project." 

Leon was left in the library, his chest deflating before he flopped back into the seat. 

He'd blown it, once again. 

On the bright side, at least he hadn't punched anyone. 

"You really, really suck at this," a smooth voice pointed out. 

Yet. 

Kadaj stepped from behind the aisle of books, sliding the book he'd been leafing through into an open space on the shelf that it certainly didn't belong in. 

Leon fixed him with a glare. "How long were you creeping around behind the stacks?" he accused.

"Please," Kadaj scoffed. "As if I'd listen in for more than a few seconds. I just happened to be walking by at the end. I thought I'd personally congratulate you on your continued failure regarding Strife." 

"Yeah, well," Leon said as he stood up once again. "Thanks for that." 

"Anytime," Kadaj said with a sly grin. He leaned back against the aisle as Leon packed up his things and headed to the door. Leon kept from looking over his shoulder in the process, knowing he wouldn't want to see the other's expression. Kadaj was always bad news, and he was always grinning like a creep. 

Though, not as much as Cheshire grinned. Leon wasn't sure which of the two was worse. 

+++++++

"Hey, I thought you were supposed to be meeting with my bro?" Megara asked, raising a brow at Cloud as they neared in the hall. She was unsurprised, however, that the study session was being ended early. She knew her brother well enough to know he couldn't handle that much time alone with Cloud. 

"He wasn't focussed," Cloud told her, then looked past her. "Perhaps you can remind him that the project is worth 33% of our grade." He passed her without waiting on a response, and Megara slowed to look over her shoulder at him for a few seconds. 

Then she shook her head and continued to the library, only to find none other than her brother exitting, his arms full of books about Channeling. He looked irritated, moreso than he normally would be unless he'd done something really stupid. 

"Oh, good," Leon said when he spotted her. He immediately moved to unload half the texts on her, which Meg took not because she wanted to, but because suddenly they were shoved at her and would fall if she didn't support their weight. "I just saw Kadaj."

"Oh, good," Meg echoed with a grin before adding on, "I thought you'd done something stupid. Like finally jumped him." 

Leon looked offfended. "I wouldn't do that," he defended as they fell into step, walking with the books toward what Meg assumed would be back to the Channeler dorms. There was no way Leon was carrying all those books anywhere but his dorm. He wouldn't be stupid enough to try to cart them all around to his classes. 

"I passed him in the hall, you know," Megara said conversationally. "He wanted me to give you a message." 

"Oh?" Leon looked hopeful. 

Megara almost felt bad it wasn't good news. "He wanted me to remind you that it's worth 30% of your grade." 

"33%," Leon corrected. "And yes, I know. I studied really hard last night. I had a plan. I had a good, solid idea and I was going to suggest it. But once we sat down and he was staring at me and he looked expectant and something just went wrong. I can't even remember now what the plan was. It just miraculously obliterated itself from my memory." His shoulders sagged. "I should request a partner change. I don't want him to fail the assignment because of me." 

"What's so difficult about talking to a guy?" Meg asked, regarding her brother. "Trust me, I do it all the time. It's not hard." 

"I can talk to everyone else just fine," Leon insisted. "But no one has his eyes." 

"How about his little pipsqueak brothers? Maybe you could practice talking to them and their eyes, train up for the real thing." She was joking. 

Well, mostly. 

Half joking. Maybe.

Leon shook his head. "I don't know what it is," he admitted. "I just get a feeling around him, and I can't function." 

"There's a name for that feeling, you know." 

Leon looked at her, raising a brow. 

"Lust," Megara enunciated clearly. 

Leon growled and hit their shoulders together. "It's not like that!" he insisted. 

"Right, right. So you're telling me you wouldn't take it there with him if he showed up and wanted you to?" 

Leon opened his mouth to respond, and then closed it. Then he opened it again. "Well, that's not a very fair question," he argued. "It doesn't mean I'm some kind of sex-crazed pervert. If I was never with him it would be fine. If he was with someone else it would be fine. I just, I don't know... I just hope that I'll get a chance, one day. And that, if I do, I won't screw it up like I keep doing now." 

"You guys have a habit of being paired together at least once a year," Megara pointed out. "It's defying all probabilities of statistics. Honestly, it can't be random. So some teacher is pulling strings for you. Someone is giving you chances." 

"Or someone is enjoying watching me mess them all up," Leon reasoned. 

Meg shrugged, the movement rolling off her shoulders smoothly like every other gesture she made. 

They arrived at the Channeler dorm entrance. Leon stepped up in front and shifted the books in his grip, having a hard time reaching one hand out to press against the slot in the door. His brow furrowed just slightly before his hand glowed and the door unlocked. 

The two siblings passed through the iron doorway and it swung shut behind them, the huge lock sliding back into place on its own. 

+++++++

In the sky train depot, there were benches. The benches were designed for sitting, for those coming or going or even waiting for someone who was coming or going. Anti was using one for the purpose of waiting for his brother, however he wasn't exactly sitting in it. Or, he was. But not the correct way. 

His back was on the seat, his head hanging off. His butt was pressed against the back of the chair, and his feet were stretched up on the wall, ankles crossed. He'd been in that position for just over ten minutes, and his upside-down gaze was pointedly locked on the door, waiting for a familiar person to walk through. 

His train had landed early, so he knew he was in for a bit of a wait. He wasn't stupid enough to go wander around town, knowing that if he tried he would more than likely get lost. He might have been an alchemic prodigy, but he'd never had a sense of direction. That morning, he'd just about got on the wrong train--the only reason he hadn't was because the conductor looked at his ticket and waved him off with an annoyed glare. 

Even though he was in a strange position, he wasn't lightheaded from it. Because unlike most people, he'd taken a gravitational canceller before getting on said train; he'd mixed it up himself before he left Midgar. Why? Because he was horribly, horribly prone to being airsick. It was something about the movement of the wings on the trains that always did him in. It wasn't like waves when riding in a boat, it was more extreme and more regular. Most people found it charming. He didn't. 

So his body was adverse to the internal effects of gravity until his potion wore off, which would take another half hour at the very most. Until then, he could sit however he wanted and not have it do anything to his circulatory system. It also, on the upside, made him look pretty cool. 

Because people were staring at him, obviously. A lot of people. Pretty much everyone in the depot was staring at him when they passed by. Some would stop to look for a few minutes. He didn't pay them mind, though, and kept his arms crossed over his chest, eyes on the door. 

He knew he was a hot topic, and he knew he was recognizable. With his dark complection and black hair and yellow eyes, and the fact that he was all over the news recently, there was no escaping it. Everyone knew instantly who he was when they looked over. Anti Oblivion, apprentice of the late Master Xehanort. He'd been the last one training under Xehanort before the accident. 

There had been speculation, of course. But Anti had nothing to do with the death. He didn't know any of the details, either. When he'd heard about it, he'd very pointedly decided not to look into it. Obviously, the death of a Master was not an accident. It never was. And given that fact, he'd be stupid to go poking around for evidence of the murderer. He'd just line the crosshairs up on himself next. 

So he'd applied to his brother's school and decided to leave the country, get out of the public eye. He refused all interviews and minded his own business. 

He wasn't at all sure what to expect from his brother's academy; Hollow Bastion was one of the most renounced schools in the country, but he hadn't heard many stories about it. They offered three primary majors there; Alchemy, Runes, and Channeling. Being an alchemic major, Anti had had every intention of enrolling in the alchemic program. 

But the thing was that he'd already know everything. Sitting through those classes would only be a bore, so he'd been thinking about it the whole train ride. He couldn't decide if he wanted to take Channeling, or Runes. 

Runes were the likely choice, if only because he knew quite a bit about them since they were used in alchemy to an extent. But if he really wanted to shake it up, he'd go after Channeling instead. He just wasn't sure how far out nof his comfort zone he wanted to venture. 

The school year had already started, so he wasn't even sure if he could catch up if he were to go into Channeling. Runes he could piece together, but he didn't know the first thing about Channeling. The fact was, if you went to an academy you got a pretty rounded education for the first few years before you chose a major. But if you trained under a Master, you only got one. There were Masters that knew all three, obviously, but they were generally never as good as specialized ones. 

"Oh! Are you Anti Oblivion?" a tall blonde woman asked, her eyes wide as she looked down at him. 

From the angle, Anti could almost see up her dress, which was gross. He looked to the side instead, responding in a bored tone. "Actually," he said, "I'm very pro-oblivion. I think oblivion would answer all of humanity's problems." 

Uncomfortbale, the lady hurried on her way after looking shocked. Anti did little more than roll his eyes at the encounter. He seriously had better things to do than talk to perfect strangers. His position wasn't exactly inviting, which should have kept him safe from stray questsions, but apparently it didn't. 

"You should cut it out, you're scaring the nice townfolk," A deeper voice cut in. Anti tilted his head further back, looking up at his brother. 

He grinned slowly, before unlocking his arms and bending his legs against the wall. He pushed off from it, doing a lazy sort of flip before his feet hit the ground and he straightened up. He made a show of stretching his arms out while Vanitas rolled his eyes at the dramatic flare. 

"Your obsession with attracting attention just to deflect it will never cease to amaze," he commented, before nodding at the door. "My motorbike is outside. And no, you're not driving." 

Anti pouted, following behind his older brother. "Why not?" he demanded. "I got my license last year! I could do it, you know. Legally, even." 

"Yeah, well. The day you buy your own bike will be the day you drive," Vanitas said with a wave of his hand. "I don't even let Axel drive this thing." He climbed onto the bike, a large model that was technically a lot bigger than it needed to be. But because gas wasn't a legal propulsion system, it didn't matter how large it was. Runes powered it, and the environment was unaffected. 

"Is Axel the one with red hair, from the picture you sent?" Anti asked, climbing on behind his brother. Instead of holding him around the waist, though, he leaned back to hold onto the spoiler for support. He wasn't super into physical affection, especially with his brother. It was too weird. 

Because there was a reason his skin was darkening and Vanitas' was pale. Anti was cursed. An effect of that curse was the sensation of his skin in general. He'd been cursed as a small child, and he'd only started off as sort of tan back then. It darkened with age, became more apparent. It was at the point that it was obvious by looking that he was cursed. It was yet another thing that made him stand out. 

The curse itself would wear off, like all curses did. It would wear off at eighteen, which meant only seven more months. But even then, his skin wouldn't return to its original colour. And he didn't care at all about that anyway. It was the other effects of the curse that he was bothered by. He liked his skin as it was. It marked him as a survivor. Because the mortality rate of the Heartless Curse was around 86%. 

Of course, there were few things known about the Heartless Curse, and one of them was almost as much of a lie as it was truth: It was a widely accepted fact that the Heartless Curse was voluntary. Technically, the victims had to agree to it before the curse was placed. But kids were tricked into it without knowing what it really was, so it wasn't exactly voluntary. Anti hadn't known what he was signing on for when he was six years old. 

So yeah, some people didn't feel bad for those cursed with it. But Anti, when he met those sorts of people, told them to fuck right off. Because they knew nothing. 

"Yeah, that's Axel alright," Vanitas responded as they drove. He was yelling over the wind so that his brother could hear him. 

They had gone uphill the whole trip from the depot. But Anti knew enough about their destination to know that it was in the bottom of a frozen gorge, so they had to descend at some point. 

"And the brunette girl? Who was she?" Anti yelled back, his grip tight on the side bars as Van steered the bike around a corner. 

"Megara, but we call her Meg!" Vanitas was saying. "You probably won't hang out with either of them." 

"You got that right!" Anti yelled back, kneeing his brother in the side lightly. "I'm not gonna be the loser that leeches off his older brother's group! I'm gonna get my own group of friends, and they'll be totally more awesome than yours are." 

"Yikes," Vanitas said, shaking his head, "I was going to invite you to Axel's party tonight, but if you'd rather do something by yourself..." 

"Hell yeah I wanna party!" Anti cried. "Come on! Like that's even a question. I haven't partied in three years!" 

"Well, tonight's the night," Vanitas responded. They were just arriving at the top of the ridge, and the descent was steep into the icy valley where Hollow Bastion sat. 

Anti leaned to the side to watch as they descended, taking in the magnificent walls of ice all around the huge castle-like building. It looked awesome, and although the air was cold he could see the land down below was still green, with trees and grass and a sports feild. There was even a lake, though it was half frozen over and seemed to have a fence running around it. 

He wondered what could be in there, and made a mental note to look into it when he got a chance. 

All in all, he was pretty damn ready for the upcoming school year. Once he got his major sorted, that was. He'd check out the people at the party that night, and choose to join the most interesting group. It was a good an indication as any; he was pretty sure he'd be fine in Channeling or Runes. And if the Alchemic majors were radically awesome, he might put up with the boring material to hang with them. 

It was a decision for Future-Anti to deal with. 

+++++++

"So what exactly do you want me to do?" Denzel asked, slumping further down on the table. His eyes were dull, though they usually were. He was a rather dull person, he moved slow and talked slow and Ventus believed that Denzel's heart even beat slower than normal. He'd never checked the pulse of his friend, so he had never been proved wrong on his theory. 

Ven, on the other hand, was bright. They balanced each other out, he had thought, when they first met. They'd both gotten detention their first week at the school, Ven for breaking a vial in the alchemy storage closet (after breaking into the closet to begin with), and Denzel for being late to every single class. They'd met in detention, and they kept meeting in detention until Ven stopped getting caught and the teachers gave up on punishing Denzel for his lateness. There was just nothing to be done about it, after all. 

"Well, you could help me," Ventus pointed out. "I'll surely get caught if I do it by myself." 

"Honestly, we'd probably get caught anyway," Denzel reasoned. He shrugged, though, and sat up. "But I'm in, I guess. When do we get started?" 

"Well, I was thinking right after the party starts. There will be hardly anyone in the building, so we should have a free shot at it. No one will be in the Channeling dorms." 

"And why are we doing this again?" Denzel asked, tugging at one of his bracelets nervously. 

"Because I want that damn trophy," Ventus reminded him, "And I need you not only for lookout, but to get the door open for me. I can't channel worth shit." 

"Well, I knew that much," Denzel said with a roll of his eyes. "I was your partner for Introduction to Channeling, remember?" 

"Yes, good times," Ventus said fondly with a nod. 

"Strange definition of a good time, but okay," Denzel responded, his expression dubious. Boredly dubious. He didn't do anything passionately. 

Actually, Denzel reminded Ventus of his older brother that way. That was more or less the reason why he was drawn to the brunette in the first place; it was a familiar kind of attitude, one he was used to. In Hollow Bastion there were many personalities, and Ventus didn't particularly like learning new things. He liked to stick to what he knew. 

Slightly depressing, bored males just seemed to fit into that. He'd known the moment he spoke to Denzel the first time, those blue eyes landed on his, half-lidded but not from tiredness. They'd made history. 

Okay, not quite 

It was a little-known fact that Ventus and Denzel were troublemakers. In fact, pretty much no one knew, because they were so good at it. No one ever suspected them. Denzel wasn't impishly inclined, and Ventus was viewed as too nice to commit pranks or acts of vandalism. It really was the perfect setup. 

"Okay, so rendesvous at nine, back at our dorm. We'll go down to the Channeling wing together. Sound good?" 

Denzel nodded, watching Ventus move further from the table. "You in a hurry to be somewhere?" he asked, though he didn't sound particularly interested. 

"Well, Vanitas went to town to get his brother like an hour ago," Ventus explained. "Which means he should be back right away. I want to get a look at Anti Oblivion, in the flesh. They say he's cursed, you know. Heartless." 

"Fascinating," Denzel responded, sounding like he was talking about paint drying. It wasn't the first time he'd been told about Anti. Not even close, and the conversation had gotten old the first time they'd had it. 

Ventus laughed. "I knew you'd agree," he said, "Anyway, I gotta get going if I don't want to miss the entrance!" 

Denzel nodded and watched his blonde friend jog away. He looked down at his watch and tugged at his colourful braided bracelets absently, chewing on his lip. 

The truth was that Ventus had been talking about Anti's arrival since word got out three weeks earlier that he was transferring in. For the last three weeks, Ventus had avoided looking at the pictures in the paper, wanting to see Anti for the first time in person. He'd been doing research on the Heartless Curse as well, as if preparing. Denzel wasn't sure if Ventus wanted to be the guy's friend or simply worship the ground he walked on. 

Either way, he didn't particularly like it. His friend had every right to be excited and want to meet the new guy, but Denzel didn't share his opinion. For the last three weeks, he'd been dreading the arrival date as Ven counted down. 

His reason? Well, if asked he wouldn't admit to any of it in the first place, and if he was asked what his reason was for not wanting Anti to arrive, he'd lie even more. But the truth was that he didn't want to lose his friend. He didn't actually have any others; he wasn't the sort of person that attracted interest. And he was comfortable with Ventus. His life was perfectly balanced. 

Even if Anti was simply added to their friendship, Denzel was exactly the type to be third-wheeled and eventually pushed out. He wasn't talkative enough to assert himself in a conversation with more than one other participant. If he was in a group of three, he'd watch the other two converse and listen. If he was asked his opinion, he'd shrug. 

It wasn't that he had no opinion. He was human and he had a brain, after all, he had to have an opinion. But he never felt the need to voice it, really. He didn't value his own opinions much. He figured that no one cared what he thought. If they did, they would ask. And if he didn't answer, they would push for it. But no one did. 

He spent most of his time with Ven, and the rest of it by himself. Mostly he stayed in the library, which was where he was still sitting after Ventus had taken off in excitement. Part of him wanted to follow, to see Anti for himself... but the other part already hated the guy in a really petty, jealous way. 

Also, he didn't want to see the amazed look Ven's face would no doubt hold when he laid eyes on Anti for the first time. That was something Denzel definitely didn't need to witness firsthand. 

He looked at the book beside him, eyeing the text before slowly moving his elbow against it. His elbow connected to the book but he kept moving, inching it toward the side of the table, farther. Half off the edge, then it was beginning to tip. 

One more push and it fell. 

But not for long, because a hand caught it. 

"Deliberately vandalizing library material? You could be kicked out for that, you know." Kadaj said smoothly, holding the book up and shaking it in indication. 

Denzel looked up at him, letting his shoulders hunch in a let-down sigh. He'd wanted the book to hit the floor, but he was left with no closure on that either. "I don't know what you're talking about," he responded. "That was an accident." 

"Oh, yeah? Kadaj responded, grinning. "Well, in that case I'll just put it back where it was. Watch your elbow this time, kid." He set the book gently on the table again, half on half off. It was balanced precariously. 

The two looked at it. 

Denzel shifted his elbow and knocked it off. 

The book hit the floor at an angle, opening and laying with its pages facing the ceiling. Both boys stayed where they were, looking at it. 

"Well, this has been sufficiently weird," Kadaj said. He bent down to pick the book back up and hold it out to Denzel. "I'm going to leave you alone now." 

Denzel reached out and took the book, mumbling his thanks, but not loud enough to be heard. Still, Kadaj nodded and strode away toward the library doors. 

Denzel watched him go, tugging at his braided bracelets again absently. 

+++++++

"Hey Cloud, you got a second?" Roxas asked. He'd been up all of five minutes, still yawning. It was Cloud's bed he'd passed out on, so he'd woken up to the other nudging his shoulder. 

"Yes," Cloud responded. "I'm not planning on attending the party. So I have lots of time." 

"Cool," Roxas said with a nod. "I just wanted to say that, last night--I mean. You must have come back last night and heard something--" 

"You needn't excuse yourself," Cloud remarked. "I was in the library most of the night, and Ventus stayed in his proper dorm. Our room was empty."

"No, no, no. You actually need to listen, see, you don't get it. Axel wasn't here last night. I didn't have a crazy night of rabbit sex. He pranked me. He took apart my clock and Vanitas coded the whole inside, so it had Axel's voice and it kept going off!" 

Cloud frowned, looking over at Roxas' nightstand. 

The younger blonde took the hint and got up, padding over to grab the object and bring it over. He snapped the top off and held it up, showing Cloud the scribbled code in the interior. 

"They did the entirety of the interior shell, there was even code on the wires. There was code everywhere," he insisted. "Axel wasn't here. Obviously. So it's all a missunderstanding." 

"Oh," Cloud said. "Okay." 

Roxas nodded, then popped the top back onto his clock. "Yeah," he said. "So you can stop looking at me all weird." 

Cloud nodded a bit more, then stood and headed out of the room. Once the door was open, two girls were revealed on the other side, and they jogged past Cloud into the room. 

"Roxas! Are you getting ready?!" Tinkerbelle demanded, hopping up on Cloud's bed and jumping up and down beside Roxas. 

He was jostled around for a few seconds before she kicked her legs out and fell into a sit right beside him, her face ecstatic. "Anti just got here, and he's super hot! So you're going to have to pull out your A-game with Axel tonight! You don't want his eyes to wander!" 

"Unless of course he wanted a 3-way. Which, I mean. Could probably be arranged." Aurora pointed out as she tossed the dorm door closed. She strode to Roxas' bed and climbed onto it as the male got up and headed toward his dresser. His clothes were wrinkled from sleep and his hair was a mussed-up mess. 

He began tugging his shirt off. 

"Whoa! You really are going to get ready," Aurora remarked, her eyes wide. "We thought we were going to have to drag you out of here." She pulled her feet up onto the bed, gripping her toes and rocking. "But that's cool, of course. Tink can pick an outfit for you, even. Right Tink?" 

"Right you are!" Tink said, snapping her fingers. She bounced over to open Roxas' dresser, rumaging through the clothes immediately and making a huge mess. Roxas watched helplessly as she unfolded every shirt he owned to either toss it back in the drawer or discard it over her shoulder. 

"If I don't go he'll come get me," Roxas reasoned. He yawned again, stretching his arms to the sides. "And last time he did that, he broke the seal on our door. Remember that?" 

"Yeah, I could actually get in here for a few weeks without mixing chemicals first," Tink griped. "Those were the days! Now I'm locked out, like all the other plebeians!" 

"You're in here every day anyways," Roxas pointed out. "You're hardly locked out of anywhere." 

"I only get in because Aurora takes pity on me. The people in my major are so boring. All they want to do is write code. But you guys just..." Tinkerbelle argued. She closed her eyes and clenched her fist. "Get me!" 

Roxas rolled his eyes while the girls both laughed, and reached his hand out to the smaller of the two blonde girls. "You done looking through my clothes?" he asked, looking expectant. 

"Your outfit has to be perfect," Aurora reminded him. "You can't rush perfection." 

"Yeah, and all your clothes are like, grey," Tink said, making a face. She held up his favourite pair of grey skinny jeans. "I don't see how I'm supposed to work with this." 

"He could borrow something of Ven's," Aurora reasoned. "They're the same size. And Ven has some clothes here since he uses Cloud's bed eight out of ten nights." 

"Denzel's the other two," Tink said with a wink at her friend, before dancing across the room toward Cloud's setup. There was a bed, a trunk at the foot of the bed, and a dresser. She knew that the dresser had Cloud's clothes, and the trunk contained Ven's. "It's brilliant!" she cried, "We'll just..." She stopped, standing over the trunk she'd opened. 

"Okay, what the fuck," she demanded, turning around to hold up a grey shirt. "You guys literally have the most bland, boring clothes I have ever seen. What is with all this grey??" 

"They're men," Aurora reasoned, closing her eyes. "They don't understand fashion." 

"But they're gay," Tink argued, tossing the shirt onto Cloud's bed instead of putting it away properly. 

"I'm wearing my hoodie and my jeans," Roxas told the two, leaning over to start tugging his jeans on. He was in his boxers, which were a challenge to stuff into the jeans, but he wasn't about to change his underwear in front of the girls. They were friends, but there was a line. 

"You do what you want, I'm going to go cry about the hearts you're not breaking by dressing like a cement wall." Tinkerbelle threw an arm over her eyes dramatically. 

"Tink, my sweet!" Aurora called, stretching her arm out toward the other girl on the other side of the room. "Do not despair, for there is a thing called... shopping sprees!" 

"No," Roxas interrupted them as he was pulling on grey jeans. "No shopping sprees." 

But he went ignored, for Tinkerbelle was looking at Aurora again before she ran over and hopped onto Roxas' bed, using the springs to jump into the air. "Shopping sprees!" she cried, before hitting the wall and falling onto the floor in a crumpled heap. 

"Holy shit! Are you okay??" Aurora demanded, leaping off the bed herself.

Roxas paused in dressing, but didn't get any closer. He didn't see any blood, so he was pretty sure their friend lived. 

Sure enough, Tinkerbelle groaned, which meant she was alive. She sat up slowly and rubbed her side. 

"Fuck, that was so not worth it," she grouched. "Roxas, you need to break your springs in so they're not so bouncy. I just about went into orbit there." 

Roxas sighed, shaking his head as he picked out a belt. "Some of us don't jump on their beds like toddlers," he pointed out. 

"You know, if you need help breaking those springs in..." Tink went on, the hint of a smirk appearing. 

"...Axel is probably available," Aurora finished, their smirks matching. 

When Roxas sent the two of them a glare, both pairs of eyebrows were rising and falling at him suggestively. In the face of that, he decided to simply turn and leave the room instead of responding. There really were no words. 

Of course, it didn't take more than a few seconds for Aurora to get Tink off the floor, and then the two girls were trailing behind him again. 

"So if you're going tonight, does that mean you're finally going to get a piece of Axel?" Aurora asked, her grin still wide. 

"Or rather, get Axel's piece," Tink said, holding up a finger, before pointing at Roxas. "But in all seriousness," she said, face going hard, "If you need condoms, you know where to go." 

Roxas was not the only one to frown at her. "You don't have a boyfriend," Aurora said, "Is there something you want to tell us?" 

"Uh, no. I didn't mean he should go to me. I meant the store. Like, before the party. So he's prepared. Because Axel, bless his soul, probably won't have them on hand because he won't think he'll need them. Or so that, if it does happen, he can pull the 'oh I wasn't expecting it from you' for flattery. Trust me, you can never rely on the dude." 

"Oh. Should we stop in town?" Aurora asked earnestly, looking to Roxas. 

"No," the blonde male snapped at them. "I'm not sleeping with Axel, I'm going to a party. Not everything is about screwing him. Actually, pretty much nothing is about screwing him. So if we could drop the subject, that would be great. I'm sick of having this conversation." 

"Wow, that nap didn't do much for your mood," Aurora pointed out, crossing her arms. "I hope Axel likes you when you're hella mean." 

"I don't know," Tink mused, "I still like him when he's hella mean." 

"I really wish you didn't," Roxas told her. 

"Lies," Tinkerbelle said sweetly, wrapping one arm around Roxas' neck and the other around Aurora's. "Tonight is going to be a blast!" she said excitedly as they left the dorm together. 

Roxas just hoped the night didn't end up like the disaster he was imagining it would be. 

xx

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it through the first 9,000 words, I salute you. I'd really like to hear your thoughts, if you're willing to leave a comment for me! :)


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